ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the science, the consequences, and the public debates regarding the low-fat campaign that dominated the nutriscape of the 1980s and 1990s, before considering three alternative nutritional theories and weight-loss diet plans—low-calorie, low-carb, and low-glycemic index (GI) diets. The contemporary concern with dietary fat primarily dates back to nutrition studies published in the 1950s that examined the links between types of fat and heart disease, but it was not until the 1980 Dietary Guidelines that the public was officially advised to "avoid too much fat". Many public health and consumer advocacy organizations also supported the low-fat guideline. Regardless of the scientific evidence underpinning the low-fat campaign, the low-fat guideline was nutritionally reductive in the way it decontextualized fat and promoted the idea that the quantity and ratio of fats and carbs are the ultimate determinants of the quality and healthfulness of a food.
